Monday, 8 February 2010

I was meant to publish the above video ages ago but time flies and I hardly find any time to look after the blog. Anyway judging by the number of posts, you must have read that excuse at least 16 times last year so I'll try to stop writing it and talk only about what is relevant.

Very relevant indeed is this video that Michael Duffy sent me a few months ago at the end of the summer. 2009 has been a bad year for young architects, but for strong climbers it is another story. Having recently moved to Bray, we can only hope that it will make it more difficult for the Dublin man to complete the first ascent of the Arch. Michael has worked out all the moves including the last one on the dodgy top jug, but as the video shows, he has failed to link the most famous line in Portrane.

He wisely hasn't mentioned any grade but we can reasonably assume that this long standing line must not be far from the magical 8 figure, although I've been told it isn't about magic, it's all about will, organisation and power. Anyway, being recently responsible for Switch, Leftism, and Contact, respectively 8a, 7c and 8a+ Michael's unemployment has given him the opportunity to deal with a lot of unfinished business and I would not be surprised if more hard lines like the Wow prow or the Big Squeeze SS were falling before the end of the winter.

Michael is also a talented young architect. Someone, please, give him a job!